Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Written by Himself

Reading Journal – Session 9 - 20/12/2016

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

I remember I had to read an extract of the Narrative of Frederick Douglass a few years ago for a Proseminar about the Puritans. It is the most famous narrative of slavery written by a slave that became a free man and it is a really striking text. Douglass’s rhetoric is really impressive, the way in which he can describe the most cruel and gruesome scenes so matter of fact, depicting just how these actions were considered by both the slave owners and the slaves, often only adding the really strong adjectives when describing the people themselves, but not the actions with which they treated the slaves.

The beginning itself already hits many emotional notes on a very basic level, with Douglass stating that he does not even know how old he is because it is not an information deemed necessary for the slaves to know. It goes on to depict his early separation from his mother, a woman he has never seen in the light, and the cruel treatment black children have to suffer at the hands of their white fathers and brothers. Especially because of this matter of fact tone does the treatment seem as horrible as it is, because the readers have to judge for themselves. At least nowadays it is generally received that way, during the time of slavery, it was probably received as entirely normal and Douglass was probably heavily criticized for even daring to voice this treatment.

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